The Olympics have rolled around once again. I have to admit to a bit of an obsession with them–more the winter than summer games. When I was little, maybe four or five, I would drag my blanket in front of the telly and try to mimic the tumbling of the Olympic gymnasts, without much success. It’s a miracle I didn’t knock anything over.

In celebration of the Rio Olympics, here are a few things I’ve loved so far:

The lighting of the flame. I didn’t think anything could come close to the unique petal design from London 2012. The Brazilians came pretty damn close with their stunning art installation. It was beautiful.

Beach volleyball. Hot men, shorts, sun; I think this one is fairly self-explanatory.

Rugby Sevens, see above.

US Women’s football (soccer). The US women’s team is rather spectacular; it’s almost criminal how their pay doesn’t adequately represent how amazing they are as compared to the men’s team which didn’t even qualify.

The overly emotional ads on the telly. Is it just me? I swear every Olympics, the advertisements make me all weepy.

Are you watching the Rio Olympics? What’s your favourite event so far?

My Book Bible (see photo). It contains all my notes about characters, places, etc. I occasionally keep them in Scrivener as well, but as that’s only useful when I’m at my desk. I find having a notebook version of it to carry with me is most useful.

Spotify. I have playlists for each of my stories.

A thumbdrive, for back ups. It’s ALWAYS a good idea to have a manuscript saved in at least two places for security purposes.

Writing can at times be a rather dreary business. We scale mountain tops of brilliance and sink into valleys of muse-less weariness. Messages from readers are often the one thing that puts a little energy into our exhausted batteries.

Here are a few of the best things I’ve ever heard from a reader—some are paraphrased:

“You made me laugh.” “You made my cry.” Evoking emotion in a reader is always an amazing feeling for an author.

“I adored ‘insert character name’ so much!” My characters are my babies so anytime they become a reader’s favourite makes my day.

“I can’t wait to read your next book.” Self-explanatory really, nothing more encouraging than hearing someone wants to see more from you.

“I’ve been in a similar situation to your character and the story made me feel less alone.” With After the Scrum in particular, I’ve heard this from readers who struggled with similar issues of anxiety, panic attacks, or acceptance from their family. As an autistic, I’ve had moments when it seemed as if I were the only person in the world going through it so I understand the importance of not feeling alone.

I hope readers understand how powerful their support can be for writers.

In celebration of my short All Lathered Up being accepted for an upcoming Hot Tree Publications anthology, I thought I would share a few things one of the main characters – Viola ‘Vi’ St.John can’t resist.